A special time with Santa Claus

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Seven-year-old Anon Unseethaharuthai carefully selected the outfit the night before he knew he would meet Santa Claus, pairing his crisp, red shirt with green pajama pants, keeping true to the colors and spirit of Christmas.

Anon is autistic, something his mother said inhibits him from interacting with strangers and calmly waiting in line — key elements to the popular childhood tradition of meeting the big man in red.

But an event at Watertown’s Arsenal Mall last Sunday created a more relaxed environment specifically for children with special needs. Anon felt comfortable enough to sit next to a stranger clad in a red velvet suit, carefully coloring in pictures of Santa and his reindeer and beaming up at his newly found, white-bearded friend.

“This is the first time my son has been able to take a picture with Santa,” said Waree Yimsiriwatthana, Anon’s mother and a Watertown resident, sporting a broad smile. “Last year, he couldn’t do it — there was too much staying in one place. Usually he’ll get scared or wander away, but this time, he loved it.”

So did his mom — except for the green pajama pants, which she made him ditch before heading to the mall.

Meanwhile, the Burlington Mall saw a turnout of about 15 special needs families on Sunday at its Caring Santa event, mall representatives said.

The event was codeveloped by Simon Malls and Ability Path, a nonprofit that supports parents of children with special needs.

Heidi Friedman, an Acton resident who is raising three autistic boys, said she appreciated attending the Burlington event so much last December; she decided to help garner attention for it this year.

“When I first got the e-mail last year, I thought that it sounded awesome, because I have three autistic sons, and they do not do well waiting in line and with all the noises of the mall,” she said.

Friedman said her attempts to have her sons photographed calmly with Santa in previous holiday seasons were always thwarted.

“We tried twice before, and both of them ended up being kind of a joke picture because all three were screaming and crying in the picture,” she said.

“There’s a lot of things families with special needs don’t get to go do, because it becomes more painstaking than gratifying,” she added. “This is one of those instances where sometimes it’s easier to just give up; it’s something you don’t have access to because of your kids’ needs. It’s nice that someone said, ‘No, we won’t give up. We’ll find a way.’ ”

After Friedman took her sons — Logan, 7, Tristan, 6, and Ethan, 3 — to the Burlington Mall event last year, she said, her kids this time looked forward to greeting Santa, a milestone for her family.

“Last year, they didn’t want to go. We had to talk them into it,” Friedman said, adding that she always faces challenges getting her sons out the door. “But this year, they weren’t afraid to go. They loved it.”

Friedman said she noticed many parents and families smiling at Sunday’s event this year, many pleasantly surprised that their kids could construct ornaments, color Christmas-themed pictures, write letters to Santa, and snack on light refreshments as they waited their turn.

And Friedman, who said she gets asked to leave public places on a regular basis because her sons misbehave, said she felt relieved knowing they could roam about the closed mall’s Santa area without causing a scene.

“I felt like a five-star hotel guest when normally, I’m usually escorted out of places because my kids are too crazy,” she said, chuckling good-naturedly.

In Watertown, mall employees held the event for two hours before the shopping center officially opened for business on a busy preholiday weekend, dimming the lights, shutting off escalators and fountains, and turning down the background Christmas music to create a relaxed environment for children with mental disabilities.

The mall also positioned the Santa set near handicap-accessible ramps and cleared enough space inside to meet the needs of kids with physical disabilities, and simplified crafts and snacks to better accommodate the children, said Rachel Molina, the shopping center’s marketing director.

The event organizers also provided a system where children could take numbers to sit on Santa’s lap instead of waiting in the traditional line. However, the take-a-number system proved unnecessary, as the event, held for the first time in Watertown, drew only three families.

“I think it would have been better if there were more children,” Molina said, noting that the mall’s Santa this year, Jack Desmond, recently retired from teaching special education in Lawrence.

“We wish we had a better turnout, but we’ll just promote it more next year.”

Tyler Piliero, 12, ran ahead of his mother into the Arsenal Mall to investigate the Santa village set inside, happily clambering into St. Nick’s lap upon command and enthusiastically smiling as camera shutters clicked.

As Tyler returned to throw his arms around his mom, Newton resident Pamela Piliero, in an ecstatic hug, she urged him to show Santa his gift wish list.

He happily trotted back to Santa, showing him the page of paper where he had scrawled his need for items like a Wii basketball game, a Guess Who? board game, and sweaters.

“Anything you can do would be great,” his mom cajoled Santa conspiratorially. “He’s been great this year.”

As Tyler talked to Santa, his mom said that although this was not their first picture with Santa, she felt more relaxed at the special event than during the normally set times for mall photographs. “Typically, we’ll be really rushed, and there’s not enough time to make sure he’s smiling,” Piliero said, watching her son protectively out of the corner of her eye as he wandered the village set. “It’s important to us to have the time to talk to Santa, and he had a great smile in the picture.”

As Tyler returned to hug his mom once more, she beamed as she collected him in her arms. “And, we’re having a great day,” she said proudly, hugging him back.

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